A man with Tongan names Uluilakepa Teulilo in the United States has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife in Rock Island.

The  68-year-old was scheduled to be tried in court on September 27 after Police found the body of his wife Peggy on July 25.

Last month Teulilo entered his plea via closed circuit video from the Okanogan County Jail where he is being held on a $500,000 bail. Teulilo was arrested on July 26.

According to Tennessee news media a Douglas County Sheriff’s deputy responded to the residence on Riverside Place on a welfare check after being notified that Peggy had not turned up to give someone a ride.

Autopsy results found that the woman had been bludgeoned to death and had not been shot in the head as previously suspected by Douglas County Sheriff’s Detectives.

Evidence also showed that Peggy Teulilo’s face had been, “bludgeoned by an object or several objects multiple times rather than shot.”

The autopsy also showed the woman’s head had been caved in.

If convicted Teulilo could be sentenced to life in prison without parole.